


i'm a mess (and you're worse)

by partiallight



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Complicated Relationships, M/M, Practice Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29231472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/partiallight/pseuds/partiallight
Summary: Riku needs acting practice for his first role in a romance show. Tenn gets to struggle between his feelings and teaching Riku. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
Relationships: Kujou Ten/Nanase Riku
Comments: 13
Kudos: 35





	i'm a mess (and you're worse)

**Author's Note:**

> tenn being pathetic, yet again. slightly less than usual!

IDOLiSH7 is not the type of group that gets requests for erotic commercials or romance shows. Not only do they have three members who are underage, the ones of age aren’t exactly mature-seeming either, half of the time.

Especially not Riku. Known for his innocence, his cuteness and his earnest nature, all the jobs he gets involve him doing things that are already fairly close to those traits.

And yet here Riku is, inside Tenn’s room, asking Tenn for help because he can’t act out the script for his role in a romance movie properly.

Tenn sighs. “Do you really think I’m the right person for this?”

“I tried asking Tsunashi-san and Yaotome-san, but they said ‘you should try asking someone whose appeal is more like yours. Like Momo-san or Tenn.’.” Riku pouts dramatically.

Tenn knows it’s a quote, but hearing his name without the ‘-nii’ out of Riku’s mouth still feels weird. “Then why didn’t you ask Momo-san?”

“I did.”

“And then?”

“He said ‘sorry, I need to fix my nail polish first. Darling is mad at me and wouldn’t do it, and doing it on my own hands instead of his is harder.’”

Tenn does remember Momo-san sending him cryptic messages asking for love advice.

“What about Nikaido Yamato?”

“He said ‘you’ll be fine, just do your best’.”

Tenn sighs. “Fine. And what do you expect me to do?”

“Tenn-nii has done scenes like those, right?” Riku doesn’t look at him. “And. I wanted to know how you stay calm during a…”

“During what?”

“During a…” Riku gets quieter. “Kiss scene.”

_ Oh no. _ That is a problem.

“Have you ever kissed someone?”   


“Does the thing at our twelfth birthday count?”

“No.”

“Then no.” 

The thing at their twelfth birthday, as Riku intelligently put it, was when Riku tried to kiss Tenn awake after Tenn fell asleep at his hospital bed. You know, normal twelve-year-old things.

When Tenn asked why Riku did that, Riku blinked and said ‘I figured it would work like with Sleeping Beauty’. 

A kiss of true love, huh.

The older brother instinct in Tenn stirs, and he blurts out, “Then, are you okay with this?”

“Eh?”

“It’s your first kiss.”

Riku tilts his head. “I didn’t expect Tenn-nii to care about that.”

Tenn remembers what he is supposed to say. “I don’t. I just worry about the impact it would have on your performance.”

“Of course I’d prefer if my first kiss was with someone I love, but I don’t think I have the time considering the shoot is tomorrow.” Riku looks genuinely sad.

“Wait, is it that person you talked about before—”

“It is,” Riku admits, still not looking at him. “Tenn-nii?”

“Yes?”

“Did you get to kiss someone you loved before your first shoot… like that?”

“A couple years before, yes.”

Tenn won’t tell Riku about the night before he left, how he stole a long, drawn out kiss from a sleeping Riku. He won’t tell Riku how he made excuses to himself like, ‘this is me getting back at Riku for that time in the hospital’. He won’t tell Riku he carved this event into his memory, dreaming of it occasionally, dreaming of Riku  _ waking up _ …

Riku smiles, but it does not reach his eyes. “Did that help?” 

“It did.” If he hadn’t done it, Tenn might’ve tracked Riku down and kissed him before the shoot.

“I wish I had that chance, too…”

“I’ll help you,” Tenn finds himself saying, but really he just wants to know who Riku’s potential partner is, and why it isn’t him. “But first, let’s study the rest of the acting. Do you have trouble with anything but the kiss scenes?”

“Well… I don’t even know how to act romantic... At least not for the cameras.”

Of course he wouldn’t know how to act romantic for the cameras. It’s Riku, after all.

Tenn grabs a DVD from a drawer and puts it in the DVD player. “Let’s study, then.”

Tenn doesn’t actually look at the episode of the drama he starred in that he puts up. He just hopes Riku learns something.

* * *

“I still don’t get it. It looks simple from the outside, but if I had to move my mouth like that, I’d fail.” Riku looks at the TV, clearly concentrated.

“What about the rest?” Tenn puts away the script Riku had given him, which he’d skimmed while Riku was watching.

“I feel like I’d blush trying to do it. I can’t imagine doing it, and I can’t imagine being on the other end of it either… The manager and the others will be mad…”

“We could practice.”   


Tenn wants to slap himself for having said that.

“Practice?” Riku looks at him.

“I’ll show you how it’s done. Get up.”

This is just to give his little brother acting lessons. This is in no way emotionally charged. He doesn’t want to do this.

That’s what Tenn tells himself as he gently but forcefully pushes Riku against the wall.

Riku’s big eyes look expectant, as if they know what’s coming. Tenn leans in and whispers in his ear, “Tonight, you’re mine.”

This stuff comes easily to him these days. TRIGGER’s image demands it of him, after all.

Riku naturally lets himself lean against the wall and gives Tenn a look that is wanting.

_ His acting for that role is good, I’ll give him that. _

The part of Tenn that lacks impulse control makes him lean in until their noses touch. “See? That’s how you set the mood.”

Riku nods nervously.

Tenn moves away, seemingly satisfied. “Now you try.”

He really wanted to kiss Riku there, he really did, trying to at least keep Riku’s first kiss to himself, if he can’t do more than that.

To take what he can, while he still can.

But his greed won’t lose against his principles.

Tenn doesn’t realize that Riku has started his practice until Tenn finds himself between Riku and the wall, with Riku holding down one of his wrists.

“‘Look at me, will you?’”

_ Ah, that’s from the script _ .

Tenn makes eye contact with Riku, and it feels like something inside him shifts. A part of him wishes Riku would actually look at him  _ that  _ way.

“‘Kiss me’,” Tenn quotes, trying to not flinch as Riku plays with his hair.

He expects Riku to stop there. After all, Riku is saving it for that person, right?

And then Riku doesn’t.

Tenn feels Riku’s hands tracing his jaw, then Riku’s hair tickling his skin.

And then their lips touch.

For a moment, Tenn feels like he can’t breathe, and time seems to stop. It feels like he is being devoured, devoured by his own treacherous heart that can’t let go of his own brother.

Riku brings their bodies closer, nibbling at Tenn’s lip until he gives him access to a deeper kiss, and Tenn wonders why Riku even worried he wouldn’t be able to do it.

Because if Tenn hadn’t already fallen for him, he’d fall for him right now.

(That thought, of course, is forbidden, but Riku’s tongue makes a convincing argument for thinking forbidden thoughts.)

Moments feel like an eternity like this. Riku’s hand on his hip, Tenn between the wall and his brother.

_ To Riku, this is practice; so I should give my best, too. _

And he does.

Tenn leans into the kiss fully, allowing himself to go wherever Riku is leading him. Be it hell or heaven, Tenn doesn’t care. What matters is Riku, and Riku’s lips.

(Tenn doesn’t notice how he buries his free hand in Riku’s hair, how he is barely acting at this point. After all, the result counts.)

Eventually, it’s Riku’s lack of breath that breaks the kiss, and it takes Tenn’s entire semblance of self-control to not go for the next kiss.

“How did I do, Tenn-nii?”

_ Great, can you keep going? _

“That was good for your first time.” From the corner of his averted gaze, Tenn can see Riku’s expression brightening up in happiness.

“I’m happy! I was worried I’d totally fail… I guess it was easier because it’s Tenn-nii.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Riku still hasn’t moved away from him. The next thing Tenn feels is Riku hugging him. “Thank you, Tenn-nii.”

“No problem.”

Tenn wants to say, ‘Let go’, but what comes out is, “What about that person?”

“Eh?” Riku doesn’t let go.

“The person you wanted to kiss first.”

“He’s right here.”

“Where?”

Tenn wants to hit himself for seemingly playing dumb, but it’s more his genuine disbelief coming through. He figured it would be Izumi Iori or someone from IDOLiSH7 in general, or even Momo-san. Not him.

Not the twin brother with the treacherous heart.

“Tenn-nii is good at acting, but really bad at the real thing, huh?”

Tenn blinks.  _ Is this for real? _

He tries carefully, “How would you know? Maybe you just can't tell the difference.”

He realizes he’s digging himself into a deeper hole here, that any more will make him do the same thing that made Riku yell at him the night he visited him at the IDOLiSH7 dorm. Because Kujo Tenn lives with his own self-sabotage, and he always will.

“Tenn-nii…” Riku distances himself a little from Tenn, a couple tears in his eyes. “Don’t play with—”

“Shut up.” Tenn doesn’t want to hear it, so he pulls Riku in by the collar of his shirt and brings their mouths together.

Maybe the mistake was trying to solve any of this with words.

Right now, Tenn doesn’t truly care for Riku’s feelings. Riku probably does not feel the same about him, he just has no grasp of the concept of romance whatsoever. And that’s okay, Tenn doesn’t care. All that matters right now is the touch of their lips, the way Tenn can express his feelings, and that Riku won’t reject them.

The magic won’t last if Riku asks more questions.

Tenn can mesmerize people with his voice, but for Riku alone he’ll use his lips. 

This kiss is different.

Tenn lets himself be led by the worst parts of him, lets himself fall deeper for the sensations he yearned for for so long.

He won’t tell Riku the truth; won’t tell Riku what he feels. When Riku asks, he’ll tell a lie.

So this moment will have to be enough.

…

And once more, it is Riku who breaks the kiss, this time clearly stifling a cough.

Tenn’s act falls apart. “Wait, was that too much?” He did kiss rather forcefully.

"No." Riku blinks away a couple of tears. “It was worth it.”

“...Well, I hope this taught you how to act out romance scenes.” Tenn doesn’t make eye contact.

“Tenn-nii’s never honest these days.” 

Tenn feels Riku’s lips on his cheek, and suddenly everything feels even warmer than before. “Like you are.”

“I am when it comes to the important stuff!”

“Then just say what you want next time, instead of coming up with excuses…” 

Riku pouts. “That was not on purpose! I figured you’d just send me home with some helpful advice. But I guess I’ll remember your words.”

“Good. And now you should go home. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow. Take a scarf, too.” Tenn unceremoniously shoves his scarf at Riku.

“You worry too much, Tenn-nii.”

“I don’t worry, it’d impact your perfor—”

“Yes, yes.” Riku sighs, putting the scarf on. “What was that kiss today to you, Tenn-nii?” 

“It was for business.”

“Business?”

“I was helping a fellow idol learn how to kiss.”

“I… see.” Riku looks slightly down, and his expression mirrors the way Tenn feels.

Riku puts down his shoes and walks towards the door, with Tenn following him.

“Hey, Tenn-nii.”

“Yes?”

“You said I should ask for what I want.”

“Yes.”

“Kiss me.”

“Why?”

Riku tilts his head and smiles. “Business."

If it's for business, Tenn can hardly refuse.

So he kisses Riku once more.


End file.
